Johnson no longer “Redshirting”

Buccaneers second year quarterback Josh Johnson, is ready to compete, but admits the one year becoming seasoned to life in the NFL is making the transition from one offense to another a much smoother undertaking under the guidance of new offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski.

“The thing about this league: Once you learn one [system], you just have to transfer what you already learned – the terminology of it, how that coach wants to do it – but you understand the concepts and things. That’s the benefit of having one year under my belt: I learned a lot of concepts, I learned a lot of defenses, I learned how to prepare. That’s allowing this to be a smoother transition for me.”

“You still have to think, but the game’s not as fast as it was last year,” said Johnson, near the conclusion of last week’s mini-camp at One Buccaneer Place. The game is obviously fast because there are a lot of great athletes on the field, but now I understand what’s going on. I understand defenses better, I understand looks. You kind of settle in and you can let your natural ability take over. That’s what I’m trying to do.”

“I feel like it’s a great opportunity for me and Luke. [That] was great for us, because the more reps, the better you’re going to get. That’s going to allow us to be the best quarterbacks that we can be.”

“I know for me, this is the opportunity right now,” he said. “I’m not red-shirting. That’s not my job anymore. My job is to compete for the job. So I feel like it’s a fresh start for me. That’s how I feel and I’m sure a lot of guys who are in a similar situation feel the same way.” Source: Buccaneers.com

It is, asking alot for a former fifth rounder to seriously compete for the chance to start after just one season in the NFL, but what Johnson lacks in experience he can make up with moxie. Johnson has an infectious attitude that has teammates gravitating towards him which is helping lift his confidence level.

Jeff Jagodzinski, feels Johnson has made great strides in picking up the new terminknowledge and offensive scheme to the point he improved greatly from the teams first mini camp practice to his second.

“He’s a young guy,” said Jagodzinski. “For him to just start, and hearing terminology for the first time – I mean, it’s new to all of us now – and learning the terminology for the first time, sometimes there’s just a lot of stuff to process. It’s a lot of stuff to process for, really, everybody. He got better from the first practice to the practice we had [the next day].” Source: Buccaneers.com

While it is going to be exciting whatching Johnson along with the teams other young players grow, barring an unforeseen injury to a quarterback this season this fanatic thinks the team needs to spoon feed Johnson for a minium of one more season before thrusting him into the wolves.